Being an undergraduate at Pembroke is a stretching and stimulating experience. Learn the fundamentals of your chosen subject, then develop specialist expertise. We'll give you all the support you need.

Graduates are a crucial part of the student body and contribute fully to College life. The opportunites you'll find here, and the support we offer you, can make all the difference to your experience of Cambridge.

Idle Scholarship for Graduate Study in New York

We are delighted to invite applications from undergraduates in their final year for the Idle Scholarship, for four months study in New York after graduation from Pembroke. The Scholarship, which is tenable from September 2015, involves study in New York as a member of Occidental College, and is a result of the generous support of Eric Idle (1962).

Preliminary Information

Occidental is a distinguished liberal arts College of some 1500 undergraduates; it sits on a fine campus situated in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles. It has some very unusual internship and semester programmes, including the only undergraduate internship at the United Nations in New York.

The Idle Scholar will spend one semester (four months) in New York, studying International Relations in the context of the United Nations, and gaining work experience in a department of the UN itself. Tuition fees for the semester are covered, under an agreement between Pembroke and Occidental. The Idle Scholarship itself has a value of £5000 which is to cover accommodation costs in New York (at today’s rates this is about $7,500 which covers $6000 for accommodation in New York and $577 for student health insurance). Any remaining money can then be used for visa costs and local travel (e.g. airport to lodgings). The College will contribute up to £1000 towards the cost of a return transatlantic flight. Details of the courses offered by Occidental are available online at www.oxy.edu. Prospective applicants should study these closely, and present their application accordingly.

Application procedure

Applicants should submit a CV, together with a statement of not more than 500 words describing their academic interests and their proposed course of study in America, to Sally Clowes in the Tutorial Office by the first day of Lent term, Tuesday 13 January. Applicants should ensure that the CV and statement of interests between them cover the following points:

academic record and non-academic activities at Cambridge;

reasons for wanting to study and travel in the USA and in New York in particular;

choice of courses to be studied;

plans for travel within the United States on completion of your study;

plans for subsequent career or study.

Applicants should also ask their Director of Studies or Tutor (or other appropriate referee, such as a supervisor) to provide them with a reference, to reach Sally Clowes in the Tutorial Office by the same date, Tuesday 13 January. Interviews for the shortlisted candidates will be held by the end of January.